What does the development path hold for the players still on it, like Mavrik Bourque, Lian Bichsel, and Nils Lundkvist?
And why does it matter so much?
The NHL may not be a development league, but players have to develop in order to get better. With or without the league’s cheesehead philosophy, development matters. How far does Vegas get without the upward progression of Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev? Carolina without Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake’s development? Sam Malinski. Ivan Demidov. Kaiden Guhle. It’s not always younger players either. Taylor Hall, Sean Walker, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson, Darren Raddyish. Can’t be neutral on a moving train, and all that.
Dallas will need that development from its’ non-superstars. Thankfully, they have several good candidates to do exactly that.
Nobody should be fooled into thinking this is anything like 2024 when players like Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, and Stankoven were breaking into the league. Dallas doesn’t have anything like that in the pipeline. They have one core in their contention window, and an emerging core, but the next wave doesn’t exist (key standouts notwithstanding). That’s not a criticism; it’s just the nature of any team’s prospect pools. They can’t all be gamebreakers. But they can be contributors.
And that’s where players like Mavrik Bourque, Lian Bichsel, and Nils Lundkvist enter the chat. By the end of 2026, these weren’t players who developed quietly. Bourque ended the season with the wind at his sails, finishing with 41 points (a 16-point improvement from his rookie year) and firmly in the top six. Despite only finishing with 11 points, Lundkvist proved himself a depth defender who could play a top four role, becoming, oddly enough, one of Dallas’ more consistent blue liners. And then there’s Bichsel. While he’s more of a mystery box, he only turned 22 last month. Like a lot of Stars, he also had to battle injuries, which gives him a clean slate going into the 2026-2027 season.
The general tenor of next season tends to be seen as one big question mark. Has this team topped out? Can they compete with the best in the West? Will the core be the exact same? Can they ‘get away’ with running it back? While these questions are generally asked from a critical lens, the breaks can just as easily fall in the opposite, more positive direction. After all, what happens if Bourque, Bichsel, and Lundkvist level up even further? And can we predict some of who they will become with some measure of confidence?
(Special thanks to Louis Boulet of LB-Hockey and Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones. Don’t forget to upgrade to paid so that you never have to see a paywall!)
